Environment

As part of its HSE management, Linde MH strives to minimize the impacts it has on the environment. In particular, the company aims to use resources responsibly and consistently reduce its local environmental impact. To do this, Linde MH pursues an indicator-based approach, focusing on energy and greenhouse gas emissions, water, and waste.

The company’s integrated management guideline “Quality – Health and Safety at Work—Environment—Energy” requires the management and all executives to ensure processes and production operations are environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Waste is also to be avoided wherever possible, and natural resources such as water, soil, and raw materials used in a sparing and responsible way. In addition, the guideline requires and promotes efforts to avoid or decrease the release of emissions into the air, water, and soil as well as active steps aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated by business activities.

Some Linde MH sites are developing specific strategies to take local conditions into account, in addition to KION’s Group-wide HSE standard. To support these efforts, an HSE officer has been appointed for each national subsidiary.

A key sustainability target in the corporate strategy is for all sites to obtain the ISO 14001 (environmental management) certification by 2024. Regular audits provide transparency regarding sustainability performance as well as the basis for continuous improvement in this area.

Since 2020, all Linde MH plants in Germany have been procuring their electricity exclusively from renewable sources. In addition to the environmental benefits, switching to green electricity has also generated significant cost savings. The sites in Germany and the Czech Republic are leading the way in this respect and demonstrating that the use of renewable energies can make both environmental and economic sense.

Linde MH’s production sites with the highest energy consumption are now certified according to ISO 50001 (energy management) and are regularly assessed as part of the current certification cycle. This also eliminates the need for the prescribed four-yearly energy audit.

The certification facilitates continual improvements in the area of energy efficiency, and the warehouse technology plant in Châtellerault is a prime example of this. This plant’s building technology makes it possible to determine operating times based on the outside temperature or sunlight, which generates significant energy savings. The team in Châtellerault initiated the certification process back in 2013, and it was completed in 2015. This makes the plant a pioneer in the KION Group.

At new Linde MH sales and service locations, appropriate technical standards for construction and building technology help to save energy. These include—for example, at Willenbrock Fördertechnik in Burgwedel—energy-efficient façades and alternative heating systems (such as air source heat pumps), LED lighting with daylight control, green roofs, insect-friendly systems, and preparations for the installation of photovoltaic systems.

There are numerous other examples of energy savings achieved through process optimization in the company:

• Thanks to a precise process analysis, significant energy savings have been achieved on the powder painting line at Linde MH’s largest plant in Aschaffenburg. Some 20 fans and 4 cooling towers were being used to provide the mast cooling for the paint shop. The process analysis showed that there was no need for this many resources and that the energy consumption was therefore too high. By optimizing the cooling zones, one cooling tower and four fans could be switched off, resulting in energy savings of approximately 25% for this process and reducing electricity consumption by approximately 210,000 kWh per year.
• LED lighting instead of fluorescent tubes: By converting the hall lighting from neon tubes to LED lighting in Aschaffenburg, some 1211 tons of CO₂e are saved every year.
• Own renewable energy production at LMH Ibérica Spain: The installation of 252 solar panels (each 440 Wp) on the roof in conjunction with two inverters with remote control and monitoring has generated savings of 380,000 euros and around 10.5 tons of CO₂e annually.
• By switching from a mix of energy sources to 100% renewable energy, Jetschke Industrie in Germany has achieved annual savings of 1,100 euros and 19 tons of CO₂e.
• Reducing compressed air leaks cuts energy consumption: Leaks lead to higher energy consumption and higher costs, which should be avoided for economic and environmental reasons. A single one-millimeter leak costs around 500 euros per year due to wasted energy. That is why the team at Linde MH Aschaffenburg meticulously searches for and eliminates leaks in the compressed air network,—for example by replacing maintenance units, tools, shut-off valves, vents, or worn compressed air hoses. These optimization efforts generate annual savings of up to around 51 tons of CO₂e at Aschaffenburg.

Linde MH and its production facilities are based in regions with sufficient water supplies and good local infrastructure. The company makes sure that all facilities on its premises comply with the applicable safety and environmental regulations and are regularly checked to ensure that they are in good working order.

Measures have been taken at the plants to reduce water consumption, such as the instruction to wash company vehicles only when necessary. Existing plants and equipment are updated whenever buildings are renovated or facilities are upgraded or installed:

• The powder painting line at the Aschaffenburg plant has been at the cutting edge of technology since 2019. The process is fully automated and can completely eliminate pollution, volatile organic compound emissions (VOCs), and the need for water treatment thanks to the technologies in place. Solvent emissions alone have fallen by almost 25 tons per year.
• At the Weilbach production site, a special sweeper has been commissioned to clean outdoor areas on a daily basis. The machine is equipped with effective filters that have resulted in significant reductions in dust emissions during the sweeping process. Moreover, the super quiet machine needs only 40% of the water volume used by the previous equipment and is more energy-efficient.
• At the same site, closed cooling circuits are used for sand conditioning and in the cupola furnace to reduce water consumption. In these systems, the main aim of coolant treatment is to prevent corrosion by means of softening or desalination and chemical dosing. This means that water is rejected only when the salt content reaches a certain level.
• Willenbrock Fördertechnik conserves water by using a cistern to collect rainwater. With a capacity of 20,000 liters, it can collect a large amount of water when it rains, which is then used to flush toilets in the building and irrigate green outside spaces.
• At the Barcelona site, a washing plant with water treatment has been installed to reuse water and keep water consumption to a minimum.

Linde MH’s business activities have only a very minor impact on water quality, so apart from the use of light liquid separators, there is no need for any further pretreatment of wastewater prior to disposal. Nevertheless, Linde MH has its wastewater regularly monitored by external analyses, which are in turn monitored through internal reporting processes that record volumes and treatment methods. Water withdrawals and wastewater are regularly monitored by means of monthly sampling and analyses, for example.

Key figures on water withdrawal and wastewater can be found in the table.

The efforts being made worldwide to limit global warming and tackle the associated challenges require proactive, future-oriented action to protect the climate—including from Linde MH and its partners. In addition to its own direct activities, the KION Group works closely with its customers, suppliers, and business partners in various areas such as energy consumption, resource efficiency, the reduction of GHG emissions (greenhouse gases), and adaptation measures.

KION’s climate and energy management strategy is based on the agreement concluded at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (Paris Agreement). In 2017 and 2018, a science-based climate target was formulated to reduce the Group’s energy-related emissions (Scope 1, 2, and 3) by 30% by 2027 compared to 2017. To this end, the company undertook a comprehensive review of its current climate strategy in 2021.

As a significant interim result, new strategic targets have been developed that are fully aligned with the current criteria of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). As well as expanding the scope of the climate targets to include further Scope 3 emissions, the targets are based on the Net-Zero Standard for companies aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

Following these new targets, the company intends to achieve a clear reduction in GHG emissions in the value chain by 2030 (near-term) and to pursue a path toward net zero by 2050 at the latest (long-term; Scope 1, 2, and 3). The strategy takes into account carbon dioxide (CO₂), which makes up the largest share, but also other greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrogen oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride where possible and relevant. By setting these targets, the Group is also preparing for new regulations such as the European Green Deal and the EU Taxonomy.

The KION Group has set up a comprehensive climate management system to manage its GHG emissions and energy use. This system covers the Group’s own operations as well as other parts of the value chain, from production through use and reuse at the end of the present product life cycle. The internationally recognized rules of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol serve as the basis for the calculation and presentation of data on GHG emissions.

With regard to Scope 1 and 2, GHG emissions and energy consumption in the company are being reduced further by improving processes and using more energy-efficient technologies. Ongoing measures initiated through the local energy or environmental management systems link into central initiatives. These include:

• Switching to energy-efficient motors
• Using waste heat in production
• Optimizing heating systems and building infrastructure
• Using LED technology
• Optimizing transport in sales and service
• Converting the vehicle fleet to low-carbon drive technologies
• Increased sourcing and in-house production of energy from renewable sources

In Scope 3, relevant categories are taken into account based on a materiality analysis of GHG emissions. Priority is placed on the largest category by far—the emissions of products in the use phase. In addition to product design, customers are encouraged to factor sustainability aspects into their decision when choosing a solution and to use the products in an increasingly energy-efficient way and in conjunction with energy from renewable sources. There is also a particular focus on the emissions of purchased goods and services—that is, material and supplier-specific GHG emissions—as the second-largest emission category besides Scope 1 and 2. In terms of the two major Scope 3 categories, we are working to gradually integrate the insights from life cycle analyses based on material, supplier, and customer data as well as measures to engage partners in the value chain (for further information, see the KION Sustainability Report 2023).

[1] Indirect (upstream) fuel and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.

CO₂ Compensation via Certificates

In addition to the company’s own emission reduction measures, compensating for unavoidable emissions with climate protection certificates is another way to effectively mitigate climate change. Thanks to this approach, Linde Material Handling (Schweiz) AG has been delivering equipment to customers in Switzerland in a carbon-neutral way since July 2022, making it one of the first intralogistics companies to offer climate-friendly transportation. The company works with Swiss Climate to purchase emission certificates and support selected climate protection projects.

Thanks to these efforts, Linde Material Handling (Schweiz) AG has successfully offset 32.4 tons of CO₂ via a climate protection project. The supported project generates renewable energy from sawdust produced during the production of raw material for paper manufacture. The sawdust is reused as biomass to produce water vapor, which in turn serves as the energy source for the production of raw material. This regenerative system therefore enables fossil energy sources to be replaced as a heat source. The biomass project is one of the only climate protection projects in Europe to have been awarded Swiss Climate’s “Gold Standard.”

All German companies in the Group also offer their employees the opportunity to use a portion of their gross pay to lease a bicycle, which they can then use outside of their commute as well. By offering this scheme, Linde MH is responding to the wishes of many colleagues while at the same time promoting sustainable mobility. Furthermore, new company car regulations were introduced at Linde MH Nordic Markets (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) in 2022 meaning that only hybrid and purely electric cars are now permitted.

Linde MH buildings are usually located in industrial areas where no residents live. Ongoing checks and measurements have shown that noise barriers are not needed. However, the company does employ internal noise protection measures, such as enclosures for the relevant work areas, roller shutters in workshops, and personal protective equipment.

Linde MH has systems for filtering exhaust air—such as exhaust gases, paint, and welding fumes—at many sites as well as dedusting systems in trucks. Highly effective filter systems are installed in the foundries in particular to minimize the release of fine dust into the atmosphere and environment. Where emissions are generated by painting and heating systems, Linde MH uses highly effective combustion processes that minimize pollutants in the gases emitted into the atmosphere and feed the heat generated back into the buildings or manufacturing processes.

Linde MH has introduced resource-saving measures at nearly all of its sales and service entities—including opportunities for truck refurbishment, return systems for batteries, and partnerships for the return and recycling of tires. The refurbishment process extends the service life of forklift trucks and improves material efficiency and the environmental balance, such as their carbon footprint, energy consumption, and VOC emissions. This significantly reduces the overall demand for energy and raw materials, as well as the amount of waste generated.

The mixed production line in Aschaffenburg, where several different truck models are assembled on the same line, is another way in which the company is using resources more efficiently. As well as offering economic advantages, this production method is also extremely beneficial from an environmental perspective: The smaller production area reduces the need for raw materials and energy for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the infrastructure. The forklift trucks built on the mixed model line have also increased the degree of automation in production, for example through the use of robot welding. This not only has environmental benefits, such as reducing power peaks, but also health benefits, as employees in many areas are no longer directly exposed to the hazards of the welding process, such as heat and smoke.

Making the most economical use of resources has become the established approach at the Weilbach site, too: Parts that are indispensable for all forklift trucks have been cast here since 1975. The team at the foundry produces counterbalances that are made entirely from melted scrap from all over Europe and are assembled in Aschaffenburg. Depending on the product line, a counterbalance can weigh between 700 and 3300 kilograms.

Replacing critical or hazardous substances with less critical ones is also an important aspect of responsible resource management. This applies both to raw materials and to operating materials that are required for production but do not form part of the end product. For example, the hazardous substance methylene chloride, which was commonly used to clean paint spray guns, has been replaced with a less dangerous substance in recent years. A less hazardous product is also being used to rinse painting facilities.

The careful use of resources also requires the careful disposal of waste. Linde Pohony in the Czech Republic, for example, uses waste compactors that are suitable for plastic and paper waste. They reduce fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions because there is less waste to dispose of. In addition, they are covered to prevent rainwater from becoming contaminated.

In France, Fenwick-Linde stopped sending industrial waste to landfill in February 2023 and is working with the waste-to-energy plant in Limoges to recycle all of its waste. The material is recycled in a combustion plant, and the heat generated is converted into electricity via a turbine and fed into the grid.

Our headquarters in Aschaffenburg and production plant in Nilkheim are also, for example, reducing their waste in another specific area by introducing RECUP and REBOWL, a system with more than 13,900 takeout and return points. This system is being rolled out at Linde MH as well and helping the company to avoid 30 kilograms of waste a day while saving 30,000 euros every year.

[1] The increase in recovered waste is due to the dismantling of buildings at a German site.

The mandatory annual HSE training also covers topics relating to the company’s environmental, climate, and energy management, such as energy and water consumption, waste separation, and climate risks.

The numerous environmental protection campaigns organized over the years are a testament to the company’s success at raising employee awareness of environmental issues:

• Every year at Easter, the “Recycling Bunny” visits employees in Switzerland with ideas, tips, and suggestions relating to sustainability and health. The more that is recycled, the less needs to be produced. As well as preventing huge amounts of emissions from being released into the atmosphere, this will also conserve a lot of natural resources.
• In March 2023, employees at Linde MH Germany were called on to donate their old cell phones, tablets, and accessories as part of World Recycling Day. Around 80% of the components in a cellphone can now be recycled and used to replace material that would otherwise have to be sourced from nature. Linde MH is supporting the “Handys für Hummel, Biene & Co” (Cell Phones for Busy Bees and Friends) initiative of the German Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) with these efforts. Since 2006, NABU has been committed to ensuring that cellphones are recycled correctly and to returning used electrical appliances to the material cycle. A total of more than 500 devices, including cellphones, tablets, headphones, and power adapters, were collected in the NABU boxes at the German sites. While this campaign specifically focused on personal devices, Linde MH is also working to ensure devices for work purposes can be reused or used for longer. For example, the on-site support team has been collecting outdated or faulty company cellphones at German sites for several years now. Once the boxes used to collect the phones are full, the devices are sent to a service provider who then recycles or refurbishes them.
• A green roof has been installed at Willenbrock Fördertechnik specifically to protect bees and insects. The 1,087 m² roof of an office building has been planted with grass, shrubs, and flowers to provide a source of food for bees and other insects. Green roofs like this not only promote local biodiversity but also improve air quality, lower the ambient temperature, and store rainwater. Going forward, the plan is to install an economically viable number of PV systems covering a total area of 9,304 m² on the hall roof in order to produce renewable energy and reduce the company’s dependence on fossil fuels.
• Information on potential ways to reduce energy consumption has been posted in the buildings at Fenwick-Linde’s branches in France, generating savings of around 5,100 euros and a reduction of 10 tons of CO₂e in 2022.

Idea Management at Linde MH

Idea Management has been an established part of Linde MH for many years now and supports the continuous development of the company through the suggestions provided by employees. Quality, productivity, and job satisfaction are thus improved in the company by drawing on the knowledge and experience of all employees. The aim is to unlock untapped potential and incorporate it into the continuous improvement process for the entire product and service portfolio. This also includes production and work processes as well as working conditions, including occupational health and safety and environmental protection. Ideas for improvement are assessed by an expert from the relevant department using defined evaluation criteria and rewarded based on the resulting score.

In 2022, Idea Management organized its first environmental sustainability campaign, which invited employees to submit their ideas on how to make Linde MH more sustainable over a period of three weeks. Questions included: “How can we reduce our energy consumption, conserve raw materials and components, or reuse them more efficiently in a circular economy?” and “How can we optimize our supply chains and transport routes from an environmental standpoint and reduce waste or recycle it better?” A jury evaluated the ten best ideas and rewarded the three ideas with the biggest environmental impact. Linde MH has since implemented a total of seven ideas that came directly from employees.

One of these ideas is to use reusable packaging on short transport routes: While products from the warehouse were previously sent to the plant in Aschaffenburg in the same sized boxes with filling material, reusable crates in different sizes are now used for these deliveries.

Another employee’s idea to switch from using disposable aerosol cans in quality assurance to ones that can be refilled and thus reused has also been implemented to positive effect. At the plant in Aschaffenburg, around 3000 to 4000 of these cans were consumed every year. The changeover to the new cans has reduced the amount of waste generated and minimized the release of propellant gases such as CO₂ and propane without any negative impact on quality. The aerosols are now supplied in large canisters and transferred to the reusable cans, which can also be operated with compressed air generated using green electricity. This clean energy source improves the overall sustainability of processes and reduces dependency on conventional fossil fuels. Following a successful trial phase at the plant in Aschaffenburg, the reusable cans are also being used at the plant in Stribro, while potential applications are currently under review at the plant in Kolbaskowo and Willenbrock Fördertechnik.

In addition, a sensor-based analysis of the compressed air network has been carried out based on an idea submitted during the campaign. This analysis has allowed us to optimize the network’s control system and save 300 MWh of energy annually. Other measures, such as using AI to help detect leaks in the compressed air network, are currently in the works. Linde MH is also taking steps to identify other plants where the efficiency of the compressed air network could potentially be optimized.

By introducing these measures, Linde MH has reduced its environmental footprint and underscored its commitment to using resources in a responsible way. The success of these initiatives provides an incentive to introduce similar sustainable practices at all plants—and thus make a significant contribution to a sustainable future for the company.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is expected to be an integral part of the energy mix of the future. Linde MH sees it as a promising alternative to conventional drives that can be used in large fleets working around the clock—particularly because the trucks can be refueled in a matter of minutes. The company has been producing green hydrogen using its own infrastructure on plant premises since spring 2023, and is using this hydrogen to power 21 fuel cell trucks in the plant fleet. At the heart of the system is an electrolyzer, which breaks down water (H₂O) into its component parts of oxygen (O₂) and hydrogen (H₂) using electricity. To ensure that this endeavor also makes sense from a climate technology perspective, only electricity obtained from wind, water, the sun, and other renewable energy sources is used for this purpose. Linde MH intends to have this green hydrogen certified in the near future.

Fleet and Transport Management

In terms of the switch to more environmentally friendly drives, the fleet and transport management strategy is to replace the company’s own combustion vehicles with electric models. For example, Jetschke Industriefahrzeuge—a Linde MH subsidiary in Germany—replaced two diesel vans with two electric vans in the second quarter of 2022. In the third quarter, Linde MH replaced two diesel vehicles with two purely electric vehicles plus a further eight diesel vehicles with eight plug-in gasoline hybrid vehicles.

In addition, the area management plan for service technicians has been restructured at all Fenwick-Linde branches in France in order to optimize the fleet and routes. At Loire Océan Manutation, also in France, route planning has been optimized to achieve a better distribution of customer service technicians’ sectors by forming groups of two according to customers and geographical areas.

The use of the new software Area Reform also enabled Linde Magyarország Anyagmozgatási in Hungary to reduce fuel consumption in 2022 by optimizing the routes and thus the emissions of service vehicles.

Fourteen new EV charging stations were also installed at Willenbrock Fördertechnik in 2022—eight in Bremen and six in Großburgwedel—to promote e-mobility among employees. The company’s vehicle fleet currently consists of 26 hybrid vehicles and two electric vehicles.